Nikola Vučević discusses how basketball brings people together

ORLANDO - A century after the elements that originally helped popularize basketball in North America, Asia, Europe and elsewhere, these are still very much in play, bringing people together across cultures and facilitating human interactions through a shared love of the game.

These traits may sound trite, but many players, coaches and fans have personally experienced how their hoops passions have helped them acclimate and learn more about other cultures, including Montenegro's Nikola Vučević.

"Basketball helped me integrate into a group where I was very comfortable because we'd all be basketball players," he said. "We'd all have the same love for the game."

Vučević spent his childhood in Belgium, where his father played professional basketball, and he began to play with a local club when he was nine years old. Two years later the family returned home to Bar, Montenegro, where basketball helped smooth the way.

"BASKETBALL HELPED ME INTEGRATE INTO A GROUP WHERE I WAS COMFORTABLE BECAUSE WE'D ALL BE BASKETBALL PLAYERS. WE'D ALL HAVE THE SAME LOVE FOR THE GAME."- Vučević

At the time, Vučević was more fluent in French than in Serbian, after spending seven years in a Francophone Belgian school. As such, despite the family’s roots - his parents, Borislav and Lilijana, played for the Yugoslavian national teams in the 1980s - he knew that starting school in a language he wasn't yet comfortable in would be a challenge.

"I knew I was a step behind language-wise," he recalled. But because he had already begun to play with his new local club team a few weeks before school started, he had formed a bond and community with some of his teammates, which eased his way into daily life as a young teenager.

"I felt more comfortable in basketball, especially at a young age," he said. "It was easier for me to connect with people there and talk about basketball and play with them."

To this day, some of those teammates remain close friends of his.

When a few years later Vučević moved once again, this time to California, basketball again was a means for him to integrate and acclimate to his new surroundings.  

"Basketball builds really strong bonds, where you help each other and look out for each other," he explained of his experience and how his teammates helped him adjust.

It also provides ways to break the ice, cutting across language and cultural divides, like the time when Vučević wanted to meet Shaquille O'Neal while the NBA legend was filming a commercial in the University of Southern California (USC) gym.

"It was my freshman year and I wanted to meet Shaq. So did everyone else," Vučević recalled.

What was needed was a hook, something that would grab attention. And for the young Montenegrin, the truth with a twist of humor was all it took.

"People asked me where I was from, and I said Montenegro,” he said. To further the distinction, Vučević played on the traditional endings of many Balkan family names, telling people: "My name is Shaquille O'Nealovic."

The joke garnered laughs and provided a way for Vučević to talk about his country and experiences outside of California, a welcome conduit at a time when many of his American classmates didn't know where Montenegro was (it had just separated from Serbia).

"Basketball helps you to become more open-minded as a person because you see and learn," Vučević said, noting his own personal experiences.

"Everyone comes from different cultures and different countries have different points of views of different things. Talking to people, learning about their country, the history of their countries, [their experiences]. It makes you open up so much and see things. That helps you."

That's a key element of basketball's beauty, that mass participation in a single competition can bring people closer to each other in one shared experience. Together, players, coaches and fans are building bonds that go beyond the boxscore; they're creating a unifying experience  across cultures, identities, languages, and national borders.

For, as Vučević pointed out, "basketball brings you together".

FIBA